Festo Process Automation at Metropolitan Solutions New Water/wastewater Technology for the Cities of the Future

Hanover, Germany (PRWEB) April 25, 2012

At the Festo exhibit at Hanover Fair today, company spokespeople discussed the need for advanced solutions in delivering clean water to global populations. According to the 2012 World Water Report, almost one billion people still have no access to clean drinking water. Both population and economic growth are driving demand for this scarce resource. Increasing urbanization is also placing an extra burden on the drinking water supply and wastewater disposal infrastructure.

Resource and energy efficiency in water and wastewater are central issues that we will have to tackle more actively in the future, says Dr. Eckhard Roos, Head of Process Automation at Festo. He adds: Water treatment plants account for a full 20 percent of the electrical energy used by local authorities in Germany. We need to reduce the cost of automating water treatment infrastructures while at the same time improving energy efficiency and promoting the use of robust technologies that can, for example, operate plants without any electrical energy at all. Another future challenge in water technology will be to reduce the operating costs over the life cycle of the plants and to increase the availability of the systems.

As well as exhibiting new products at the Metropolitan Solutions special event, Festo will above all be showcasing complete solutions and application examples with efficient control concepts for automating water treatment plants. A current reference project in Germany will illustrate how solar energy is ideal for automating water technology infrastructure.

Energy self-sufficient automation in water management

Alexander Riek, who is heading up the project “Energy self-sufficient automation of decentralized water reservoirs in water management, shows how solutions from process automation can be turned into sustainable solutions for cities and local authorities. The automation solution used in the plant is based on regenerative energy in the form of solar energy and ensures that the maximum outflow from the rainwater overflow basins to the associated wastewater treatment plant is not exceeded. Using a GSM modem, the entire system can be controlled and monitored from the remote control center for the wastewater treatment plant. The advantages of this energy self-sufficient pneumatic solution are clear: the system allows fully automated operation even in areas where there is no normal power supply. This saves the operator time and money because the slides can be actuated from a central location when necessary. The investment costs for connecting the plant to the public energy supply network can also be saved. With this automation concept, Festo is demonstrating an innovative, energy-efficient solution for decentralized applications in process automation.

A concept like this can also be used in cities around the world. In other parts of the world, rainwater retention basins are often located in areas where there is no regular power supply. This means that the slide valves for releasing the dammed water usually have to be manually opened and closed, which causes delays and requires a lot of personnel. In the megacities of the future well see applications for energy self-sufficient, decentralized automation solution not only used for drain water in rainwater basins, but also for drinking water, for example for managing pressure in drinking water systems, stresses Alexander Riek.

DMAGs flagship project water treatment in Egypt

In this exhibition area, Festo will be presenting an automation solution it created for multiple drinking water treatment plants in Egypt. An integrated automation solution had to be designed to control the fixed-bed filters needed to remove turbidity from the untreated water taken from the Nile while also taking into account the local conditions.The process technology had to be decentralized, modular and flexible, as well as combining pneumatic and electrical components. Festos solution for automating drinking water abstraction in several waterworks throughout the sprawling city of Cairo saves both water and energy.

For sales information, call Festo at 800-993-3786 and visit http://www.festo.com/us. Follow us on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/FestoUSA.

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Festo Process Automation at Metropolitan Solutions New Water/wastewater Technology for the Cities of the Future

New Atmospheric Monitoring System for Underground Mining that also Enables Process Control

Charleroi, PA (PRWEB) July 17, 2012

CONSPEC Controls has introduced its updated PLC AMS. This unique atmospheric monitoring system, which utilizes an Allen Bradley PLC, was designed not only to provide continuous monitoring of CO and other toxic and combustible gases but also to give the end user the ability to continuously monitor and control all other processes for underground mining operations.

CONSPEC monitors placed along the conveyor belt detect any rise in CO or combustible gases such as methane as the coal moves along the belt, providing an early warning of potential hazardous conditions. Information is immediately transmitted to an Allen Bradley PLC with a FactoryTalk

New Atmospheric Monitoring System for Underground Mining that also Enables Process Control

Medical Review Business Process Outsourcing Increasing Among Healthcare Payer Organizations

Portland, OR (PRWEB) June 22, 2012

Among health insurance entities, including health plans, medical management companies and third-party administrators (TPAs), a continuing objective is to reduce costs, improve quality, and meet rigorous accreditation and regulatory compliance standards. This challenge is especially true when it comes to reviewing the medical necessity of service requests, including pre-authorizations as well as member and provider appeals.

AllMed Healthcare Managements recent webinar on physician review business process outsourcing (BPO) provided an excellent example of how payer organizations are increasingly turning to specialty BPO organizations like IROs and delegating medical decision making functions that used to be done by internal medical staff. In presenting this example of BPO innovation, AllMed cited several important reasons why health plans are moving in this direction. In particular, physician review business process outsourcing allows health plans to reduce costs, scale their resources up and down with variable volumes, and allocate their medical directors to higher value-added tasks.

Health plan medical directors are often called upon to review pre-authorization and appeals requests, which reduces the time they can devote to the oversight of quality, compliance and clinical operations functions, said Andrew G. Rowe, CEO of AllMed. Given the compensation levels of these professionals, it makes more sense to outsource routine medical review tasks and redeploy medical directors where their higher-level expertise is of most value to the organization.

Given this shift in thinking about how best to utilize internal medical staff, leading IROs have evolved and can now function as full service business process outsourcing partners for a health plan as it relates to medical decision making. High-performance IROs have developed an integrated portfolio of services that are delivered through web-based technology platforms. The IRO can now reduce and/or balance workloads inside the health plan, lowering costs and improving productivity in ways not possible before, Rowe added.

One such plan that recognizes this is Cambia Health Solutions, which operates BlueCross and/or BlueShield health plans in four western states, serving nearly 2.5 million members. The Regence affiliated companies have fully integrated their IRO (AllMed) into their clinical decision-making operations as a BPO partner. It relies on the company for outsourcing of all physician review functions, including first-level pre-authorizations and specialty-matched appeals.

An outsourcing partner like AllMed is a really good fit for us, said Csaba Mera, MD, Executive Medical Director of Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon. It has a large panel of physicians available for specialty-matched case reviews through a secure web portal, which improves our turnaround time on pre-authorizations and appeals. This gives our medical directors more freedom to focus on higher-level tasks such as medical policy development, provider services support and implementation of required regulatory programs.

But choosing the right IRO partner requires solid due-diligence, Mera would say, confirming that the partner needs to bring together all the cross-functional disciplines and expertise in physician recruiting, credentialing, training, quality assurance and compliance. Further, the full-service IRO should offer a solution that is highly optimized and integrated into the health plans clinical decision-making workflows. In the end, such a solution must be faster, better, and cheaper than what a health plan can develop and maintain on its own, he added.

Rowe outlined the technology capabilities and platform a payer should look for in looking for an IRO to partner with. These include:

Medical Review Business Process Outsourcing Increasing Among Healthcare Payer Organizations

Montebello, CA (PRWEB) December 20, 2012 The MIMO Cash Room Automation System counts, sorts and securely stores large volumes of cash and coin. Coins are dispensed directly into a cash drawer or tray, so there is no need to sort or count coin. A cashier can start and end their shift in less than sixty seconds, with no need for managers to verify their funds. MIMO easily pays for itself, typically delivering an ROI in 12-18 months. MIMOs innovative software is network ready and monitors all cash handling functions and provides many different reporting functions to meet the needs of any retail business. With the addition of MIMOs remote monitoring application, customers can now monitor inventory levels and obtain all of their cash reporting without having to even leave their desk. Now retailers are able to receive all cash reporting from any U.S. store right at their corporate office. The addition of our remote software makes it even easier for our customers to manage their daily cash, said Pat Johnson, MIMO Mama of MIMO, LLC. Our remote monitoring software truly makes MIMO the most self sufficient cash management solution on the market today. With cash shrinkage on the rise, retailers need more efficient cash reporting to enforce full employee accountability. Now our customers can receive email and text MIMO notifications, all from the comfort of their own home! MIMO"s New Cash Management System, the Only Safe on the Market Today that Truly Automates the Cash Handling Process

Montebello, CA (PRWEB) December 20, 2012

The MIMO Cash Room Automation System counts, sorts and securely stores large volumes of cash and coin. Coins are dispensed directly into a cash drawer or tray, so there is no need to sort or count coin. A cashier can start and end their shift in less than sixty seconds, with no need for managers to verify their funds. MIMO easily pays for itself, typically delivering an ROI in 12-18 months. MIMOs innovative software is network ready and monitors all cash handling functions and provides many different reporting functions to meet the needs of any retail business. With the addition of MIMOs remote monitoring application, customers can now monitor inventory levels and obtain all of their cash reporting without having to even leave their desk. Now retailers are able to receive all cash reporting from any U.S. store right at their corporate office. The addition of our remote software makes it even easier for our customers to manage their daily cash, said Pat Johnson, MIMO Mama of MIMO, LLC. Our remote monitoring software truly makes MIMO the most self sufficient cash management solution on the market today. With cash shrinkage on the rise, retailers need more efficient cash reporting to enforce full employee accountability. Now our customers can receive email and text MIMO notifications, all from the comfort of their own home!

MIMO"s New Cash Management System, the Only Safe on the Market Today that Truly Automates the Cash Handling Process